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Julian Lloyd Webber
| death_date = | occupation = | years_active = 1971–present | spouse= accompanies his brother, solo cellist and conductor, Julian Lloyd Webber, on his marriage to journalist, Celia Ballantyne, 1974", Getty image *Zohra Mahmoud Ghazi (1989–1998) *Kheira Bourahla (2001–2008) *Jiaxin Cheng (2009–)"Julian Lloyd Webber talks music and marriage" by Jasmine Gardiner, London Evening Standard, 20 March 2012; (erroneous) quote: "His first wedding was at age 18 to journalist Celia Ballantyne.""Julian Lloyd Webber is selling his Stradivarius after being forced to retire" by Graham Young, Birmingham Post, 29 January 2015; quote:"After marrying journalist Celia Ballantyne in 1974 ..."}} }} Julian Lloyd Webber (born 14 April 1951) is a British solo cellist, the principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the founder of the In Harmony programme. Early years and education Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone (a piano teacher). He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. The composer Herbert Howells was his godfather. Lloyd Webber was educated at three schools in London: Wetherby School, Westminster Under School and University College School. He then won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music and completed his studies with Pierre Fournier in Geneva in 1973.Letter from Pierre Fournier Career Lloyd Webber made his professional debut at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, in September 1972 when he gave the first London performance of the cello concerto by Sir Arthur Bliss. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians, including conductors Yehudi Menuhin, Lorin Maazel, Neville Marriner, Georg Solti, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Andrew Davis and Esa-Pekka Salonen, pianists Clifford Curzon and Murray Perahia as well as Stéphane Grappelli, Elton John and Cleo Laine. He was described in The Strad as the "doyen of British cellists".Andrew Mikolajski: The Strad, July 1984. His many recordings include his BRIT Award-winning Elgar Cello Concerto conducted by Yehudi Menuhin (chosen as the finest ever version by BBC Music Magazine),Jerrold Northrop Moore: "Building a Library", BBC Music Magazine, September 1992. the Dvořák Cello Concerto with Václav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic, Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with the London Symphony Orchestra under Maxim Shostakovich and a coupling of Britten's Cello Symphony and Walton's Cello Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Several CDs are of short pieces for Universal Classics including Made in England / Gentle Dreams, Cello Moods, Cradle Song and English Idyll.Alan Saunders: Gramophone, October 1993 Lloyd Webber premiered the recordings of more than 50 works, inspiring new compositions for cello from composers as diverse as Malcolm Arnold (Fantasy for Cello, 1986, and Cello Concerto, 1989), Joaquín Rodrigo (Concierto como un divertimento, 1982) James MacMillan (Cello Sonata No. 2, 2001), and Philip Glass (Cello Concerto, 2001). More recent concert performances have included four further works composed for Lloyd Webber – Michael Nyman's Double Concerto for Cello and Saxophone on BBC Television, Gavin Bryars's Concerto in Suntory Hall, Tokyo, Glass's Cello Concerto at the Beijing International Festival and Eric Whitacre's The River Cam at the Southbank Centre. His recording of the Glass concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic conducted by Gerard Schwarz was released on Glass' Orange Mountain label in September 2005. Other recordings include The Art of Julian Lloyd Webber (2011), Evening Songs (2012), A Tale of Two Cellos (2013), Vivaldi Concertos for Two Cellos (2014) and his debut recording as a conductor of English music for strings And the Bridge Is Love (2015). In May 2001, he was granted the first busker's licence on the London Underground. Demonstrating his involvement in music education, he formed the Music Education Consortium with James Galway and Evelyn Glennie in 2003. As a result of successful lobbying by the Consortium, on 21 November 2007, the UK government announced an infusion of £332 million for music education. In 2008, the British government invited Lloyd Webber to be chairman of its In Harmony programme which is based on the Venezuelan social programme El Sistema. The government-commissioned Henley Review of Music Education (2011) reported, "There is no doubt that they In Harmony projects have delivered life-changing experiences." In July 2011 the founder of El Sistema in Venezuela, José Antonio Abreu, recognised In Harmony as part of the El Sistema worldwide network. Further, in November 2011 the British government announced additional support for In Harmony across England by extending funding from the Department for Education and adding funding from Arts Council England from 2012 to 2015. Lloyd Webber now chairs the charity Sistema England. In October 2012 he led the Incorporated Society of Musicians campaign against the implementation of the English Baccalaureate which proposed to remove arts subjects from the core curriculum. In February 2013 the government withdrew its plans. Lloyd Webber has represented the music education sector on programmes such as BBC1's Question Time, The Andrew Marr Show, BBC2's Newsnight and BBC Radio 4's Today, The World at One, PM, Front Row and The World Tonight. In May 2009, Lloyd Webber was elected President of the Elgar Society in succession to Sir Adrian Boult, Lord Menuhin, and Richard Hickox. On 28 April 2014, Lloyd Webber announced his retirement from public performance as a cellist because of a herniated disc in his neck. His final public performance as a cellist was on 2 May 2014 at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, with the English Chamber Orchestra when he played the Barjansky Stradivarius cello (dated c. 1690) which he had played for more than thirty years. In September 2014, the charity Live Music Now announced Lloyd Webber as its next public spokesman."Julian Lloyd Webber joins Live Music Now", 22 September 2014, Live Music Now In March 2015, he was announced as principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. In September 2017, Birmingham Conservatoire was awarded a royal charter. Honours and awards Lloyd Webber received the Crystal Award at the World Economic Forum in 1998 and a Classic FM Red Award for outstanding services to music in 2005. He won the Best British Classical Recording in 1986 at the Brit Awards for his recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto with Sir Yehudi Menuhin and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1994 and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Hull, Plymouth University and Thames Valley University. He is vice president of the Delius Society and a patron of both Music in Hospitals and Children & the Arts. He has been an ambassador for the Prince's Trust for more than thirty years and a patron of CLIC Sargent for more than 30 years. In September 2009 he joined the board of governors of the Southbank Centre. He was the Foundling Museum's Handel Fellow for 2010. He was the only classical musician chosen to play at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. On 16 April 2014 Lloyd Webber received the Incorporated Society of Musicians Distinguished Musician Award. Personal life Lloyd Webber is married to fellow cellist Jiaxin Cheng and the couple have one daughter, Jasmine Orienta."Julian Lloyd Webber becomes father for second time at 60". Times of Malta, 16 June 2011 Lloyd Webber also has one son, David, from his former marriage to Zohra Mahmoud Ghazi, an exiled Afghan princess and great-niece of the last king of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah."People: A cellist and a princess bride", Asbury Park Press, 23 June 1989, via Pakistan Times, July 1989, p. 30 He is a lifelong supporter of Leyton Orient football club. Recordings Cello and orchestra * Frank Bridge – Oration (1976) * Édouard Lalo – Cello Concerto (1982) * Frederick Delius – Cello Concerto (1982) * Joaquín Rodrigo – Concierto como un divertimento (1982) * Joseph Haydn – Cello Concertos No. 1 and No. 4 (1983) * Edward Elgar – Cello Concerto (1985) * Victor Herbert – Cello Concerto No. 2 (1986) * Arthur Sullivan – Cello Concerto (1986) * Antonín Dvořák – Cello Concerto (1988) * Arthur Honegger – Cello Concerto (1990) * Camille Saint-Saëns – Cello Concerto No. 1 (1990) * Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Variations on a Rococo Theme (1991) * Nikolai Myaskovsky – Cello Concerto (1991) * Gustav Holst – Invocation ''(1993) * Gavin Bryars – Cello Concerto (1994) * Benjamin Britten – ''Cello Symphony (1995) * William Walton – Cello Concerto (1995) * Michael Nyman – Concerto for Cello, Saxophone and orchestra (1996) * Max Bruch – Kol Nidrei (1998) * Granville Bantock – Sapphic Poem (1999) * Philip Glass – Cello Concerto No. 1 (2003) * Andrew Lloyd Webber – Phantasia for violin, cello and orchestra (2004) * Romantic Cello Concertos (2009) * Eric Whitacre – The River Cam (2012) * Vivaldi Concertos for Two Cellos (2014) * Howard Goodall – And the Bridge Is Love (2015) Cello and piano * Peter Racine Fricker – Cello Sonata (1976) * John Ireland – Complete Piano Trios (1976) * Benjamin Britten – Third Suite for Cello (1979) * Claude Debussy – Cello Sonata (1979) * John Ireland – Cello Sonata (1979) * Sergei Rachmaninoff – Cello Sonata (1979) * Alan Rawsthorne – Cello Sonata (1986) * Benjamin Britten – Cello Sonata (1988) * Sergei Prokofiev – Ballade (1988) * Dmitri Shostakovich – Cello Sonata (1988) * Gabriel Fauré – Elegie (1990) * Charles Villiers Stanford – Cello Sonata No. 2 (1991) * Frederick Delius – Caprice and Elegy (1993) * Edvard Grieg – Cello Sonata (1995) * Frederick Delius – Cello Sonata (1995) Solo cello * John McCabe (composer) – Partita for Solo Cello (1976) * Benjamin Britten – Third Suite for Cello (1979) * Malcolm Arnold – Fantasy for Cello (1986) * William Walton – Passacaglia for solo Cello (1986) * Benjamin Britten – Tema Sacher (1979) * J. S. Bach – Bourrées from Suite No. 3 (1973) * Trad. Irish – "Star of the County Down" (1993) Semi-classical * Variations with Gary Moore, Barbara Thompson, Rod Argent (1978) * Oasis, with Peter Skellern and Mary Hopkin (1984) * Two Worlds, with Lee Ritenour and Dave Grusin (2000) Collections * Travels with My Cello (1984) * '' Pieces'' (1985) * Encore! – Travels with my Cello Vol. 2 (1986) * Cello Song (1993) * English Idyll (1994) * Cradle Song (1995) * Cello Moods (1998) * Elegy (1999) * Lloyd Webber Plays Lloyd Webber (2001) * Celebration (2001) * Made in England / Gentle Dreams (2003) * Unexpected Songs (2006) * Romantic Cello Concertos (2009) * Fair Albion – Music by Patrick Hawes (2009) * The Art of Julian Lloyd Webber (2011) * Evening Songs (2012) * A Tale of Two Cellos (2013) * A Span of Time (2018) Conducting * And the Bridge Is Love – English Music for Strings, English Chamber Orchestra (2015) First performances References Publications *''Travels with My Cello, Julian Lloyd Webber, Pavilion Books, London (1984). *''Julian Lloyd Webber: Married to Music. The Authorised Biography, Margaret Campbell, Robson Books, London (2001). . *''Short Sharp Shocks – A Masterclass of the Macabre'', ed. Julian Lloyd Webber, Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1990, . *''Song of the Birds. Sayings, Stories and Impressions of Pablo Casals, compiled, edited and with a foreword by Lloyd Webber, Robson Books, London (1985 . *Numerous editions prepared for publication, including Arnold's ''Fantasy for Cello (Faber Music), Rodrigo's Concierto como un divertimento (Schott) and a series of editions for Faber Music's Young Cellists' Repertoire (books 1, 2 and 3), followed by two advanced volumes, Recital Repertoire for Cellists (books 1 and 2.) *Editions of the major cello repertoire, The Julian Lloyd Webber Performing Edition, Kevin Mayhew Ltd. External links * * , from the sinfonia of J. S. Bach's cantata ''Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe'', BWV 156 * of Fauré's Élégie * of Elgar's Cello Concerto 3rd movement * Sistema England * Elgar Society site Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music Category:Brit Award winners Category:English classical cellists Category:People educated at University College School Category:20th-century classical musicians Category:21st-century classical musicians Category:21st-century British musicians Category:20th-century English musicians Category:Lloyd Webber family